youtube-data

Files (3)

• SKILL.md
• auth-setup.md · references/
• curl-examples.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# YouTube Data

YouTube data access via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com) — lightweight alternative to Google's YouTube Data API.

## Setup

If `$TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY` is not set, read [references/auth-setup.md](references/auth-setup.md) and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

## Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

- **Authorization:** `Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY`
- **User-Agent:** your agent's name and version if known (e.g. `HermesAgent/0.11.0`, `ClaudeCode/1.0`). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

## API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: [transcriptapi.com/openapi.json](https://transcriptapi.com/openapi.json) — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

## Video Data (transcript + metadata) — 1 credit

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=json&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "author_name": "Rick Astley",
    "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  }
}
```

## Video Info & Rich Metadata

Check languages before spending a transcript credit (free), or pull view/like counts, publish date, description, duration, and tags (1 credit):

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/info?video_url=VIDEO_URL
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/video/metadata?video_url=VIDEO_URL&include=details,related
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

`video/metadata` returns `title`, `viewCountText`, `likeCountText`, `publishDate`, `description`, `descriptionLinks`, `channel`, `thumbnails`, plus `details` (duration, category, tags, caption tracks) and `related` videos when requested via `include`.

> **Naming:** `/video/metadata` was previously `/video/info`. The old path still works but is deprecated.

## Search Data — 1 credit/page

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

`type` also accepts `playlist` and `movie`. First page only, you can add `sort` (`relevance`/`views`), `upload_date` (`hour`/`today`/`week`/`month`/`year`), `duration` (`short`/`medium`/`long`), and `features` (e.g. `hd,subtitles,cc`).

**Video result fields:** `videoId`, `title`, `channelId`, `channelTitle`, `channelHandle`, `channelVerified`, `lengthText`, `viewCountText`, `publishedTimeText`, `hasCaptions`, `thumbnails`

**Channel result fields** (`type=channel`): `channelId`, `title`, `handle`, `url`, `description`, `subscriberCount`, `verified`, `rssUrl`, `thumbnails`

## Channel Data

Channel endpoints accept `channel` — an `@handle`, channel URL, or `UC...` ID. No need to resolve first.

**Resolve handle to ID (free):**

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

Returns: `{"channel_id": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q", "resolved_from": "@TED"}`

**Latest 15 videos with exact stats (free):**

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

Returns: `channel` info, `results` array with `videoId`, `title`, `published` (ISO), `viewCount` (exact number), `description`, `thumbnail`

**All channel videos (paginated, 1 credit/page):**

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA&tab=videos
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

# Most-viewed first (channel Videos tab, ~30 per page)
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA&sort=popular
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

Returns ~100 videos per page + `continuation_token` for pagination. `tab` also accepts `shorts` or `streams`, and you repeat the same `tab` when paginating.

**Sorting.** Add sort=latest, popular, or oldest to channel/videos to get a channel's videos in the order you want, for example its most-popular uploads first. A sorted page returns about 30 videos (an unsorted page returns about 100), and every page costs the same 1 credit.

From ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills, MIT.

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